Mohammad Yousuf picks Joe Root over Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers as best batsman in the world

Former Pakistani cricketer Mohammad Yousuf has ranked Englishman Joe Root ahead of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers as the best batsman in the world.

In the recently concluded Test match against Pakistan in Manchester, Root scored an excellent 254, and soon cricket followers around the world started comparing him with Indian Test captain Virat Kohli. The Lahore-born Yousuf is one of the most successful Test batsmen his country ever produced. He played 90 Tests and scored 7,530 runs at an impressive average of 52.29 which includes 24 centuries.

As quoted by ABP, Yousuf said: “He (Root) is the best batsman in all three formats of the game. His balance, his shot selection, and his timing all work well together and his double hundred against Pakistan at Old Trafford was a gem of an innings. Root has been around for just a few years but already his batting averages in all three formats speaks for his class.”

On the other side, Virat Kohli scored a double century in the first Test against the West Indies and guided India to a memorable win on foreign soil. The former right-handed batsman said he has no doubt about the class of Kohli and de Villiers but Root is his personal choice as the best.

Yousuf added that if a player is successful at the Test level, he is bound to get good results in any other formats.

“I have always said that if a batsman can be successful at Test level he can be successful in any format. I think the way Root or the others get runs consistently it proves my point,” said the former Pakistani cricketer.

After scripting a memorable victory at Lord’s in the first Test, things did not go too well for the Asian giants in the following match and Yousuf feels that the lack of a specialist batsman for English conditions in the side is the main problem.

Speaking on the matter, he said: “I think our batsmen find it difficult to cope whenever the pitch has some bounce and movement. The pitch prepared for the second Test in Manchester is good for batting and England showed this with their big totals.”

Yousuf still holds the record for scoring the maximum number of Test centuries in a year, he reached the three-figure mark 9 times in 2006.

A sports lover par excellence. Keeping track of sports-related events around the world is my passion, addiction, and would like to take it up as a profession. India locking horns with Pakistan in front of a packed Eden Gardens is a sight I carve for.